Actor/activist Ted Danson steps up to help whales!

Recently, acclaimed actor and activist Ted Danson launched a petition to President Obama asking him to stop seismic airgun testing along the U.S. eastern coast. I had the pleasure of talking with Mr. Danson at length last year about his work advocating for the oceans, and I was deeply impressed by his sincere passion and the depth of his knowledge on the threats oceans and marine life face today.

This is a particularly crucial time for Mr. Danson to be showing leadership on this issue, as marine animals along the East Coast need your help right now. Seismic airguns are being tested offshore in an area that extends from Delaware all the way down to Florida.

Companies use these seismic airguns in order to locate oil and gas deep below the ocean floor, and the process generates a noise so loud it can harm and even kill marine life. The government estimates that testing will injure and possibly kill 138,000 whales and dolphins in the Atlantic, and would negatively impact millions more marine animals in this complex ecosystem.

The impact that seismic testing will have on marine animals will include hearing loss, disruption of mating and feeding, and habitat abandonment (which can lead to beach stranding and death). Included among the nine whale species in the Atlantic, is the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, with a population estimated at only 400-500 individual animals.

Here at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), we have a long history of working on the most critical threats to whales. We are working to end commercial whaling in Japan, Iceland and Norway.

We address threats to whales from ship strikes, and we work to reduce harmful man-made ocean noise – from sonar and ship noise to seismic exploration. We recently developed a Blueprint for Whale Conservation that highlights the threats to whales and what the US government can do to make the world safer for these magnificent animals.

With our robust agenda working to keep whales free from threat, IFAW, along with other animal welfare and wildlife conservation groups such as Oceana and Greenpeace, are supporting Mr. Danson’s petition to keep seismic airgun testing from continuing to harm sea life off the East Coast.

In order to receive a formal response from the President, we need to generate 100,000 online petition signers by May 15. So please join Ted Danson, IFAW, and thousands of others by making your voice heard and signing the petition at the link: www.wh.gov/e8hu.